Friday, August 29, 2008

It's another Friday everybody, and we all know what that means! :) Another opportunity to let the wonderful men in our lives (and everybody else) know how much they mean to us, and what we specifically appreciate about them!

If you'd like to find out more about why I started MHR Fridays, either click here or follow the button in the left hand sidebar (if you would like to add the button to your sidebar, use this code ).

If you'd like to join in the fun, leave a comment on this post with the permalink to your ~my husband rocks! Friday~ post! Remember, this is not just for us girls, guys we'd love it if you would turn it into ~my wife rocks! Friday~ and link up! :)

If you're not a blogger, but still want the world to know about your amazing husband(or wife, or husband to be, or wife to be, etc.) leave a shout-out in the form of a comment! If you're unable to comment, e-mail me at katylinvw [at] yahoo [dot] com and I'll add your shout out to this post!

And remember, on Fridays From*me Tees will refund your shipping on any order of two or more items if you mention the great adventure and ~my husband rocks! Fridays~ in the "how did you hear about us?" section of your order form, so run on over there and check them out, too! Thank you From*me Tees!

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This week, I would like to tell you all about how great my hubby is in the area of protecting me. First of all, he is the most competent and intelligent person I know, so I can't think of anyone else more qualified for the job. And secondly, he does it without making me feel belittled or demeaned.

Whenever I ride my bike or take the dog for a walk, even in our teeny tiny town, he likes to know where I'm going, when I reach my destination, and when I'm going to be back. Not out of an attitude of controlling my movements, but because he is genuinely concerned for my well-being.

He's not real keen on me driving out of town alone, or in big cities, and when we take the long road trips he feels guilty when he needs me to drive because he feels like it is his responsibility to get us there safely.

In all the time we have known each other there have been two occasions upon which he has had to accompany me to the emergency room, and both times he has been absolutely wonderful. He is so attentive, and the look of loving concern on his face just makes my heart break with love for him.

He is such a wonderful man, and he takes his role as the protector of our family very seriously. My husband rocks my socks off! :)

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Very Important Announcement!!!

Coming up next month MHR Fridays will be having a HUGE giveaway! "Why a giveaway?" you may ask. Well I'll tell you, because giveaways are freaking awesome! Not only that, but Austin and I are celebrating our one year anniversary on September 22nd, so I thought it would be easy to remember, as well as September 19th will be the 15th week that we have posted for ~My Husband Rocks~ Fridays! So, on the 19th I will announce all of the fabulous giveaway items, then on the 26th I'll announce the winner!!! Anyone is welcome to enter the giveaway, even if they do not post for MHRF, and if you would like to contribute items to the giveaway, please contact me by e-mail (so that way it will be a surprise when we announce the items) at katylinvw(at)yahoo(dot)com!

Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Yep, that's right. Life is certainly never boring, I'll tell you that much. You see, it all started at the fair. Austin and I rode up to Des Moines on a Harley owned by our friend Craig, and camped with Craig's family in their motor home. Well, when the time came that evening to move the bikes from general parking over to the campground, I had changed from my jeans to shorts, but didn't think much of it as we were just going to move the bike, not ride it for an extended period of time. So we hop on and cruise up to the campgrounds, where the parking is very, very tight. Thinking that I'll just get off real quick so that Austin can maneuver the bike more easily, I slide of the right side (big no-no) and land my exposed calf right on the VERY hot exhaust pipe! It didn't take me too long to move from that position, but as I was trying to get away from the pipe, I turned and scraped the back of my thigh on Craig's bike's license plate holder!

The burn hurt like the dickens, but didn't seem too bad, so we just walked down towards the fairgrounds and got some ointment from the police officers on duty, which cooled it and formed a kind of second skin which protected it nicely. This is what it looked like that Sunday morning:

It blistered and popped, and I thought that I was doing a fantastic job of keeping it clean. I put triple antibiotic ointment on it regularly and cleaned it out at least once a day with hydrogen peroxide, but by the end of the week, it was obviously infected and it hurt to even stand on my right leg for any period of time. By Friday night the redness of the infection had grown to an area of 8x11 centimeters at its widest and tallest points, and our friend Michael, with whom we were hanging out and playing games expressed his concern that it may be a Staph infection, and strongly suggested that we visit the emergency room immediately. This is what it looked like on Friday night:

(The flash washed it out a little bit, but I've drawn a line around where the redness was.)

(This one shows it a little bit better, but my calf just looked so defined in the first one, lol!)

Tyler and Emma went with us to the emergency room, and we were processed very quickly. The doctor said that even though it was not a Staph infection, it was very good that we had come right away because it was very infected. She prescribed an antibiotic and wrote on me with a surgery pen, instructing us to return if the infection spread rapidly in any direction, or if it was no better by Sunday night.

Tyler and Austin waiting for our names to be called (we were the only ones there)!

Thankfully, the antibiotics are doing their job and the infection has decreased significantly. It's still a little tender, but that's to be expected. We were a little shocked at the price tag on six pills: $134!!! Thank the Lord for good health, because I cannot imagine spending that kind of money on prescriptions on a too regular basis!

I've been feeling kind of funky all week, and I wasn't really sure why, so I did some research. The antibiotic, called Levaquin, is reported to have the following side effects: Headache, difficulty sleeping, agitation, anxiety, back and joint pain, changeable emotions, depression, difficulty concentrating, disorientation.(source) Which is a pretty good summary of the way I've been feeling. Thankfully this is the last day I will be taking it, so I'm really looking forward to the weekend.

Sorry I've been MIA this week. When I would get home from work, I would just crash - terrible headaches and the trouble sleeping at night has made me very emotional and weepy. Next week will be much better!

Friday, August 22, 2008

Before I explain yet another reason why my fabulous husband ROCKS, I have an announcement to make!

Coming up next month MHR Fridays will be having a HUGE giveaway! "Why a giveaway?" you may ask. Well I'll tell you, because giveaways are freaking awesome! Not only that, but Austin and I are celebrating our one year anniversary on September 22nd, so I thought it would be easy to remember, as well as September 19th will be the 15th week that we have posted for ~My Husband Rocks~ Fridays! So, on the 19th I will announce all of the fabulous giveaway items, then on the 26th I'll announce the winner!!! Anyone is welcome to enter the giveaway, even if they do not post for MHRF, and if you would like to contribute items to the giveaway, please contact me by e-mail (so that way it will be a surprise when we announce the items) at katylinvw(at)yahoo(dot)com!

This week, Austin rocks because our love is timeless :)

Here is what we would have looked like had we been sweethearts at any other time in the past:

That was our silly reason for the week. Austin is so amazing that this week I have several serious reasons why he rocks.

1. He indulges my silliness, and even enjoys it with me (hence the crazy faces, lol!)

2. He gave up his weekend and spent lots of money at the fair because he knew how much I wanted to go.

3. His favorite part about MHR Fridays? The fact that so many other husbands are being built up and encouraged by their wives. He can't wait to hear the new count every week!

Thanks for reading everybody! Be sure to check in with all the ladies in to hear about more husbands who rock by clicking on the "my husband rocks participants" button in the left sidebar!

And remember, on Fridays From*me Tees will refund your shipping on any order of two or more items if you mention the great adventure and ~my husband rocks! Fridays~ in the "how did you hear about us?" section of your order form, so run on over there and check them out, too! Thank you From*me Tees!

If you'd like to find out more about why I started MHR Fridays, either click here or follow the button in the left hand sidebar (if you would like the code to add it to your sidebar, use this code ).

If you'd like to join in the fun, leave a comment on this post with the permalink to your ~my husband rocks! Friday~ post! Remember, this is not just for us girls, guys we'd love it if you would turn it into ~my wife rocks! Friday~ and link up! :)

If you're not a blogger, but still want the world to know about your amazing husband(or wife, or husband to be, or wife to be, etc.) leave a shout-out in the form of a comment! If you're unable to comment, e-mail me at katylinvw [at] yahoo [dot] com and I'll add your shout out to this post!

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Angie is a very, very talented writer, and today (I guess she actually posted it on Sunday, but I read it today) she has articulated so beautifully how we can love a God who lets bad things happen. Praise the Lord for Angie and her family (her husband, Todd, is part of Selah) who have allowed Him to use a terribly painful situation to glorify His name and draw others to Himself. Be prepared to cry . . . a lot.

Monday, August 18, 2008

Yep, that's right! This weekend was spent at the world-famous, too good to be true, Iowa State Fair.

Now folks, you've got to understand, that everything I knew about Iowa (before I moved to our wonderful state), I learned from musicals. Ah, musicals!

They're in my blood. I can't help it. I grew up in a house where we believed that there truly is a song for every situation. And even if there isn't, we'll sing something anyway. My dad was in musicals all through high school, and he still graces the stage on occasion for the seasonal church drama or Christmas cantata, and I was in every production that my high school produced from my sophamore year on! They make me happy.

But I digress. The point of this post was to tell you all about the state fair. And Iowa. Most people don't realize or don't remember that two very famous musicals are set in Iowa, and give a little bit of insight into Iowa, and Iowa State Fair, life. For example, this number from The Music Man (one of my all time favorites):

This is one instance where the musical got it pretty spot on. My very Iowan husband even agrees, and my father sings this song to him (us) every time we are there. Austin has even begun to learn the lyrics enough to sing along for parts :)

State Fair was my very first musical, so when I moved to Iowa I was very excited to experience, live and in person, the actual, honest-to-goodness Iowa State Fair, and this year it actually happened! And boy did we experience the state fair!

We got up bright and early on Saturday morning, and went over Craig's (Austin's boss and our good friend) house. Craig is a Harley guy, and he let us borrow his beautiful Dyna to ride to Des Moines with him and his brother Merle and sister-in-law Heidi. Craig's family gets a camping spot every year, and we had planned to camp with them on Saturday night.

We got to the fairgrounds around 10:00, dropped our stuff off at the camper, and went straight to breakfast (because the fair is mostly about eating, let's be serious now people) here:

We walked and walked and walked for HOURS!!! It was wonderful! We ate tons of great food, enjoyed all of the free samples, saw all of the prize winning vegetables and fruits, the butter cow, the butter Shawn Johnson (I'm not sure if it's actually a compliment to be immortalized in butter, but . . . whatever), and although the crowds did not simultaneously burst into perfectly harmonized song and beautifully choreographed dance like they do here:

We did see this:

A wonderfully talented one-man band!

And the most massive bull:

And hog:

And wasps (ew):

A good time was had by all (except for the wasp, who absolutely was harmed in the making of this post, and better him than me)!

The fair definitely lived up to my expectations, and I bet it becomes an annual tradition :)